Excerpt from Past and Present SO many hundred thousands sit in workhouses and other hundred thousands have not yet got even workhouses and in thrifty Scotland itself, in Glasgow or Edinburgh City, in their dark lanes, hidden from all but the eye of God, and Of rare Benevolence the minister of God, there are scenes Of woe and destitution and desolation, such as, one may hope, the Sun never saw before in the most barbarous regions where men 'd'welt. Competent witnesses, the brave and humane Dr. Alison, who speaks what he knows, whose noble Healing Art in his charitable hands becomes once more a truly sacred one, report these things for us these things are not Of this year, or Of last year, have no reference to our present state Of com mercial stagnation, but only to the common state. Not in sharp fever-fits, but a chronic gangrene Of this kind is Scot land suffering. A Poor-law, any and every Poor-law, it may be observeduis but a temporary measure an anodyne, not a remedy Rich and Poor; when once the naked facts Of their condition have come into collision, cannot long subsist to gether on a mere Poor-law. True enough - and yet, human beings cannot be left to die! Scotland too, till something better come, must have a Poor-law, if Scotland is not to be a byword among the nations. Oh, what a waste is there; of noble and thrice-noble national virtues peasant Stoicisms, Heroisms valiant manful habits, soul Of a Nation's worth, which all the metal Of Potosi cannot purchase back to which the metal of Potosi, and all' you can buy with it, is dross and dust! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.